The present disclosure relates generally to microelectronic device manufacturing methods, and more specifically to a method and device for maintaining manufacturing equipment operation quality.
An integrated circuit (IC) is formed by creating one or more devices (e.g., circuit components) on a semiconductor substrate using a variety of fabrication process. As fabrication processes and materials improve, semiconductor device geometries continue to decrease in size. For example, current fabrication processes are producing devices having geometry sizes (e.g., the smallest component (or line) that may be created using the process) that are less than 65 nm. However, the reduction in size of device geometries frequently introduces new challenges to maintaining device quality, reliability, and performance.
For example, as device geometries shrink, the methods of measurement employed by metrology equipment require strict procedures to maintain the quality and reliability of manufactured products. Moreover, processes and apparatus employed during such measurements can introduce contaminates to the product which can result in erroneous measurements and adversely affect calibration of metrology equipment.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a method and device thereof that addresses the above discussed issues.